Malware is a term that refers to malicious software. Malware includes software that is designed with malicious intent to cause intentional harm. Examples of malware include viruses, worms, ransomware, spyware, adware, rootkits and so forth. In many cases, malware takes the form of executable code stored in a binary file that is unknowingly executed by a user of a computing device.
Malware causes many issues for users. For example, malware may negatively affect the resources of the computing device, invade users' privacy by stealing information, adversely affect computing devices' stability, and hijack users' computing device for illegitimate purposes. In many instances, users may not even be aware of the presence of the malware.
Programs such as anti-virus software are used to detect and remove malware. Anti-virus software may compare malware signatures to data of programs stored on the computing device. Matches between malware signatures and program data may indicate the presence of malware. The malware signatures can be stored in large databases that include thousands of malware signatures. Often, there are a large number of files that are scanned to detect the malware signatures. Programs can be scanned each time they are executed, resulting in a large number of scans. Detection of malware may therefore involve non-trivial amounts of computing device processor and/or memory resources.